Last Flight of the SR-71 Blackbird: October 9 in Aviation History

An SR-71B Blackbird, NASA 831, slices across the snow-covered southern Sierra Nevada Mountains of California after being refueled by an Air Force tanker during a 1994 flight. SR-71B was the trainer version of the SR-71. Notice the dual cockpit to allow the instructor to fly the airplane. (Photo by NASA)

2009: The Centaur module of NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) is purposely smashed into the surface of the Moon, creating a plume of dust which is collected by another spacecraft to test for the presence of water. Five weeks later, test results confirm the existence of water vapor on the Moon.

1999: Completing a career during which she set scores of speed and altitude records, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird makes its final flight.

1900: French aeronaut Count Henri de La Vaulx sets a world record for non-stop long-distance balloon flight, flying over 35 hours after taking off from Paris.

1890: French inventor Clément Ader completes what is arguably the first flight of a manned, powered airplane when his steam-engined, propeller-pushed Éole flies about 164 ft (50 m) at an altitude just under 8 inches (20 cm).

Residents of Houston Texas were given a rare treat last Thursday: A formation flight by the only three remaining airworthy B-57s, NASA's WB-57Fs.Why do we travel to space? What if there was a reason greater than technological advancements and finding a home on other planets? Dare we say...Orion, NASA’s newest spacecraft, is set to launch atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 7:05 a.m. Watch it live! A cool animation details NASA’s Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) mission, which will go farther than any human spacecraft has in the past 40 years.Space enthusiasts say goodbye to Kennedy Space Center's iconic Countdown Clock after years of poor weather and decades of unforgiving time have visibly taken their toll.

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